Electrical contact terminal.



PATENTED JUNE 16, 1908.

C. W. CLIFFORD. ELECTRICAL CONTACT TERMINAL. APPLICATION FILED mums, 190s. RENEWED DEO.10,'1907.

CHARLES W. CLIFFORD, OF TRENTON, NEW JERSEY.

ELECTRICAL CONTACT TERMINAL.

Application filed. June 13, 1906, Serial No, 321,507. Renewed December 10, 1907.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 16, 1908.

Serial No. 405,947.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES W. CLIFFORD,

'Trenton, in the county of Mercer, in the State of New Jersey, have invented an Improvement in Electrical Contact-Terminals, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to terminals formed or struck up by means of dies from a single blank of metal, and the object of my invention is to produce a construction especially adaptable to use as an electrical contact terminal, and, as well, to other purposes to which it may be adaptable.

Electrical fuse-plugs are now commonly made of porcelain or othei frangible non-conductive material, and it has heretofore been common to use a solid metal rivet for one of the contact terminals for such fuse-plugs, and in clenching or s reading the rivet on the frangible main bot y portion of the plug pinch loss occurs from breakage of the porce- Myinvention rovides a sim le terminal for such use whicii may be cheap y and readily made, and which may be spread or clenched upon the plug without causing fracture of the plug, and which will afford a deep seat for the fusible conductor connected with the rivet.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 re resents a plan View of a metal blank. from w ich my terminal is formed Fig. 2 shows'an end view of such blank; Fig. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional View of such blank after the first forming operation has been performed upon it;

.Fig. 4 is aside view of my terminal showing the same partly formed from said blank; Fig. 5 shows the terminal complete, and Fig. 6 is a vertical diametrical section of a fuse plug of well known form, showing my invention applied to the same and forming a contact terminal thereof.

My terminal is preferably made of brass, and this material is first cut out by a die into a blank of the-form shown in Fig. 1. In its middle portion this blank is roundedon its sides to form the head of the terminal, while the extended rectangular portions of the blank are notched or narrowed at their ends, as shown in said Fig. 1. This blank is then placed in a die which turns up the extended ends thereof to the form indicated in Fig. 3 of r the drawings, the projecting angular parts of the blank being turned to a position perpen-' dicular to the rounded art left to form the head of the terminal. t is then subjected to another pressure between forming dies which shape it as shown in Fig. 4, and is then subjected to a final operation between finishing dies which bring it to the form shown in Fig. 5, when it is complete as. an article of manufacture. As thus completed it will be observed that the terminal, 1, has a hollow head, 2,- and a hollow shank, 3; that the main portion of the shank has a circular wall formed of two sections having their edges contiguous and forming. a comparatively deep cut, and that the outer end of the shank is 'gifurcated, having the projecting ends 4 an 5.

As above stated, I have, in Fig. 6 of the drawings, illustrated my invention in connection with an electrical fuse-plug, of which it forms one of the terminals. In said figure 6 is the porcelain or other frangible main body portion of the lug. This body portion is open at one en and is partly closed by a transverse wall at its other end, said transverse wall having a centrally located circular aperture 7 formed in it, and also having two radial channels of slight depth extending from said aperture towards the circular wal of the plug-body. Into the aperture 7 the shank of the terminal is inserted, and its projecting ends 4 and 5 are bent down so as to lie within said channels formed in the end wall of the lug body, as shown in Fig. 6. Thetermina is thus firmly attached to the plug without any danger of. breaking the frangible body thereof through heavy pressure or impact, and it is held firmly to itsseat,

while the extended'portions 4 and 5 of its bifurcated shank lying within said channels prevent the rivet from turning in its seat when the fuse-plug is screwed into a cut-out, thus securing a perfect electrical contact, the head of the terminal being wiped as the lug is adjusted. The rivet also affords a deep seat for the fusible conductor 8, which is placed therein and soldered thereto as shown in said Fig. 6.

Having thus described my invention, I

1. A contact terminal for an electric fuse plug formed of a single blank of metal, having a head formed from the .middle portion of said blank, and a shank formed from the two end portions thereof, said end portions abutting at their edges near the head of the terminal and forming a comparatively deep cup,

and separated at their outer ends, forming a bifurcation of said shank:

2. The combination of the non-conductive body portion of an electric fuselug and a contact terminal formed from a single blank of metal having a head formed from the middle portion of said blank, and a shank formed from the two end portions thereof, said end ortions abutting at their edges nearer the head of the terminal and forming a com aratively deep cup and the ends of said s ank being bifurcated and bent over upon the body of the fuse plug.

3. The combination of an electrical fuseplug having a nonconductive main body por- V tion with a partially closed end and channels a contact terminal having a hollow shank with a bifurcated end and having its bifurcations bent into said channels in said end wall, substantially as shown and described.

CHARLES W. CLIFFORD. Witnesses:

I. M. ALTEMUS, ELWOOD W. MooRE, Jr. 

